The sand dunes
along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario are an integral part of a coastal
barrier environment consisting
of beaches, sand dunes, embayments and wetlands. This barrier system,
which extends for roughly 16.5 miles, contains
the largest and most extensive freshwater sand dune formations in New
York State. In fact, the only dunes higher than
these in the entire northeastern United States are on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

DEVELOPMENT
OF THE BARRIER SYSTEM

The bedrock
formations and topography of the eastern Lake Ontario region have a geologic
history of more than
400 million years. The surface formations and landforms, however, have
a history no further back than the final
advance and retreat of the last glacier 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. As
the last glacier (Wisconsin glaciation)
receded across the present Lake Ontario basin, melting water from the
glacier formed Lake Iroquois, which
extended far south of the existing Lake Ontario shoreline. The Lake Iroquois
time period (approximately 12,000
years ago) serves as one benchmark used in describing the formation of
existing landforms, including the sand
dunes, in the eastern Lake Ontario region. Following the Lake Iroquois
period, four distinct lake-level stages
(Sandy Creek, Skinner Creek, Dune, and North Pond) resulted in sand deposits
of different types and in different
locations on the coastal and upland areas of the Lake Ontario basin. These
geologic phases resulted in what many
consider the most dramatic feature of the eastern Lake Ontario coastal
barrier system: the extensive formations of
sand dunes, some cresting at more than 70 feet above the surface of the
lake.

OWNERSHIP
OF THE BARRIER SYSTEM

Of the approximately
16.5 miles of Lake Ontario shoreline (measured between the Salmon River
and Black Pond)
contained in the eastern Lake Ontario barrier system, an estimated 6.7
miles (41%) is publicly owned, and an
estimated 9.8 miles (59%) is privately owned. Of the publicly owned shorefront,
6 miles (90%) is contained within
three state Wildlife Management Areas, with the remaining 10% (less than
one mile) within state park land. Of the
privately owned shorefront, roughly 7 miles (73%), is in residential use,
less than a mile of shoreline is in
commercial campground use, and roughly 1.7 miles is undeveloped.

MAJOR RESOURCE
AREAS

Four major
resource areas can be identified within the coastal barrier system. These
resource areas are defined
by the major aquatic habitat areas (wetlands and embayments) protected
by the eastern Lake Ontario barrier
system. These are the: Black Pond Resource Area; Southwick-Lakeview Resource
Area; North and South Sandy
Ponds Resource Area; and Deer Creek Resource Area.

Black Pond
Resource Area

This area
contains the northernmost of the major wetlands protected by the coastal
barrier system. The barrier
contains a nature preserve owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy
at El Dorado Shores and Black
Pond, the state's Black Pond Wildlife Management Area, and shorefront
residential development. The barrier is
particularly notable for the well-developed and preserved high sand dune
formations found in The Nature
Conservancy preserve and the Wildlife Management Area and for the regionally
significant habitat provided for
large concentrations of shorebirds, waterfowl, and other migratory birds.

Southwick-Lakeview
Resource Area

This area
contains Southwick Beach State Park and the Lakeview Wildlife Management
Area and is entirely
owned by the state of New York. The Wildlife Management Area contains
two barrier sections separated by the
mouths of Sandy and South Sandy creeks. The northern section of the Wildlife
Management Area, bounded by the
state park, is used for swimming and picnicking by people entering the
area through the park; the southern section
is less accessible by foot and less disturbed by human use. When the natural
outlet of South Colwell Pond is open
and flowing, marking the southern boundary of the Wildlife Management
Area, the southern barrier section
becomes a barrier island.

North and
South Sandy Ponds Resource Area

The Sandy
Ponds Resource Area is characterized by two barrier spits: the shifting
North Sandy Pond inlet and the
two sets of high dunes that flank it. The sand flats of each spit near
the inlet provide regionally significant habitat for
shorebirds and migratory species. The northern portion of the south spit
contains the largest undeveloped, privately
owned piece of land in the overall barrier system.

Found in this
resource area are shorefront residential development and a commercial
day-use beach site.
Because it is sheltered from the open waters of Lake Ontario, North Sandy
Pond supports intensive recreational
activities (boating and fishing) during the summer months, and several
boating and marina-access facilities have
been developed on the pond.

Deer Creek
Resource Area

This resource
area contains the Deer Creek Wildlife Management Area and privately owned
sections of the Deer
Creek marsh. Included in the Wildlife Management Area is the barrier system's
fourth set of high sand dunes and a
commercial campground.

FUTURE
OF THE BARRIER SYSTEM

These dunes
are vital to the continuing integrity of the barrier system. The climatic
and geomorphic conditions
under which the dunes were formed no longer exist. If destroyed, these
dunes are unlikely to ever regain their
current natural resource values.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks
to Dieter Busch, Lee Chamberlaine, Tom Cutter, John DeHollander, Diane
Jackson, Diane Kuehn,
Pat Peterson, and Jennifer Pultz for their review and assistance with
this publication.

This document
contains information taken directly from New York's Eastern Lake Ontario
Sand Dunes prepared
by L. R. Johnston Associates for the New York State Department of State,
Division of Coastal Resources and
Waterfront Revitalization. June 1989.